


of consequence

by robinlikeitshot



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Introspection, poor timmy, slight suicidal implications
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 12:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25849192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinlikeitshot/pseuds/robinlikeitshot
Summary: Batman needed a Robin.Tim Drake needed a father.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80





	of consequence

**Author's Note:**

> ok, so i actually wrote this piece like, two years ago. id posted it and everything, but i got one(1) hate comment from a damian stan and sixteen year old me did Not handle it well, and so it was deleted. i was re reading it today and i was thinking, ya know this actually isn't that bad?? so I'm posting it again( i haven't actually gone through and re wrote it tho, since its not really my current style)  
> enjoy:)

Batman needed a Robin.

Tim Drake needed a father.

Well, Batman got his Robin, and Tim Drake tried to fill up the space that the man who refused to give him the time of day used to occupy with pushing himself to the brink and hoping his wings would catch him if (when) he fell.

It wasn’t exactly healthy, Tim reflected now, years later, after everyone had died and come back. Even after everything he had sacrificed for the mission (he shoved away the thoughts creeping up on the back of his mind reminding him _exactly_ _what,_ fingers brushing the scar on his abdomen), Bruce still hadn’t given him back the mantle he thought he’d earned, even pushed for him to get emancipated so he could take over the company. _Still didn’t consider him a son_.

After all, why should he? Tim was just a kid who had pushed his way into a grieving man’s life, and then never left. Maybe… maybe it was finally time. After all, his mission was over, Batman had a Robin, even if it wasn’t him.

Just a guest overstaying his welcome, he thought, gripping the marble sink as he watched his blood turn the water pink. He finally wrenched his gaze up to the mirror, bloodshot eyes staring back at him.  _ I look like I died. _

Tim felt like it too, as he attempted to push his hair( _ toolongtoolong-)  _ out of his face, which had taken on a concerning pale color.  _ Well, paler than usual. _

He tried to remember the last time he’d eaten. Bruce had called him in for back-up during patrol, and before that Dick had asked him to cover one of his cases, and there was an emergency board meeting at WE, and then he’d had to type up last week’s report, and then he had to go to work, and then he’d had to update the physicals, and then he’d had to cover a case for Barbara, and then Damian...well. He looked again at his shoulder, which he had attempted to bandage by himself after working the batarang out.

He felt the cool tile under his fingers as he dimly registered that he was currently sitting on the floor. He wasn’t exactly sure how he’d got there. When Tim looked back into the mirror, all he could see was a seventeen-year-old trying not to fall apart.

Is this all he was ever going to be? he thought with something he’d promised he’d never hear in his voice again winding through his mind. When he’d been a child, he was the Drake heir, destined to take over his family’s company one day, a respectable, perfect, cold, ruthless young man.

As he looked at the mirror, at the glassy eyes staring at him through fragile ice, at the dark shadows marking a contrast against the pale pallor of skin that came with not a second of sleep in seventy-two hours, and not remembering the last time he’d put something in his mouth other than caffeine. Looking at the tired, broken(because that’s exactly what he was) young man in his reflection, Tim smiled; his mother would have been proud.

**Author's Note:**

> if you liked it, pls feel free to leave ur thoughts down below!


End file.
